The Texas Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct (“the Rules”) govern, among other things, the fees that Texas attorneys may charge. Under Rule 1.04(a),
A lawyer shall not enter into an arrangement for, charge, or collect an illegal fee or unconscionable fee. A fee is unconscionable if a competent lawyer could not form a reasonable belief that the fee is reasonable.
Thus, according to the Rules, a lawyer’s fee is either reasonable, illegal, or unconscionable. It cannot be unreasonable in the disciplinary context!
Given Texas consumer statutes that sanction unconscionable conduct, attorneys are forewarned to charge reasonable rates or else!
How does one determine if their fee is reasonable without going afoul of the antitrust statutes? I would think attorneys would ask other attorneys about their fees and base their own fees on that research, but then doesn't that create an appearance of price fixing?
Posted by: Dennis | October 08, 2007 at 08:21 AM
That is an issue I bring up all the time in my CLE presentations. We are supposed to be able to testify as to what is reasonable in a given community, but how are we supposed to learn what is reasonable in a given community? Just because you think your fee may be reasonable does not make it so. The best answer I can give at this time is to listen to other attorneys in court and look at what opposing counsels are charging. There is no easy answer to this dilemma.
Posted by: Benjamin | October 09, 2007 at 04:13 AM
Follow up to my earlier post. When an attorney moves to a new jurisdiction, how should the attorney go about setting his fees? Example, newly admitted attorney went to law school in State A and has never lived in Texas before the bar prep, how should he go about setting fees if he goes solo immediately in Texas.
Is an attorney really charging an illegal or unconscionable fee if his exposure in State A is that a particular matter should result in a flat fee of $5,000 but in Texas, unbeknownst to him, the appropriate fee is $2,500?
I assume that there is probably some significant variation in fees around Texas from San Antonio to Houston to Dallas and also in the many small towns in Texas.
What happens when a lawyer in Dallas opens a satellite office in another city, is he required to research the local fees, or can he charge his customary fee?
Posted by: Dennis | October 24, 2007 at 03:19 AM
Is 40% an unreasonable fee to charge in a sexual harrassment and sexual assault civil case?
Posted by: Nicole | January 23, 2009 at 06:59 PM